Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

Delta started collaborating with farmers over 15 years ago to begin understanding how they could more effectively implement practices that improve the climate while also improving their local environments and economies. Over the years, this has resulted in Delta having developed projects like the Illinois Conservation Climate Initiative and the Nitrogen Credit Program, the latter being praised by former USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack as a model for a new kind of nutrient management program throughout the corn belt‚Äîone that brings farmers, research institutions, non-profits, government, and business together to make climate solutions work.

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Best Estimate of GHG Avoidance/Reduction of This Project (Tonnes CO2 Equivalent/Year):

Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

While the environmental benefits of carbon sequestration through regenerative agriculture are plentiful, these practices also provide significant economic benefits for rural communities. Farmers can see increased profitability in the long term by using less input costs like synthetic fertilizers. Moreover, using regenerative agriculture increases working lands‚ resilience to extreme events like flooding, ultimately leading to more profitable farms. The Organic Hotspots analysis showed increases in median household income by over $2,000 among farmers using regenerative agriculture practices. Additionally, the analysis also found that these counties have a poverty rate that is reduced by as much as 1.35 points, compared to counties with less or poorer soil management. 

Furthermore, according to the United States Department of Agriculture‚ most recent Census of Agriculture conducted in 2017, more women than ever are now farming, while the number of men is steadily decreasing. Not only has the share of women producers risen to account for 36% of farmers‚Äîa 27% increase since 2012‚Äîbut a growing number of women are also becoming the primary producer of farms. The need to restore soil health across farmlands is increasingly more relevant now than ever as it relates to gender equity. Without implementing regenerative farming practices now, the next generation of women farmers will inherit soils even more degraded and depleted than ever before.

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